Echoes of the Universe-the Music of Kaija Saariaho

A documentary celebrating composer Kaija Saariaho's rise from Helsinki to global acclaim, featuring her influential works.

Echoes of the Universe – The Music of Kaija Saariaho is a documentary about the contemporary composer Kaija Saariaho who made her career in Paris.

The documentary follows Saariaho’s growth from a shy Helsinki girl to the most respected contemporary composer in the world. During her career, Saariaho has received 24 international awards and recognitions. In 2020, in a poll by the BBC, Kaija Saariaho was voted the most important living contemporary composer.

In the documentary, the initial ideas and the backgrounds of the works are explained by the composer herself as well as her colleagues and family members. The floor is given to e.g. the director Peter Sellars, conductor Clément Mao-Takacs, soprano Anu Komsi, writer Sofi Oksanen and choral conductor Simon Halsey. Featured are also Saariaho’s husband Jean-Baptiste Barrière (composer, multimedia artist) as well as their son Aleksi Barrière (musical theatre director, dramaturge, librettist) and daughter Aliisa Neige Barrière (violinist, conductor). The opera about the trauma caused by school shooting, Innocence, made opera history when the piece premiered in Aix-en-Provence, France, in the summer of 2021. The newest material of the documentary was filmed in the rehearsal of Innocence at the Finnish National Opera in October 2022. The documentary concludes in Italy where Kaija Saariaho is awarded Venice Biennale’s ‘The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement’ in 2021.

In addition to Helsinki and Tampere, the documentary was filmed in Denmark’s Ebeltoft, Paris, Venice, and Barcelona.

Genre Music documentary
Production year 2023
Duration 80 min
Production Company Teatro Productions
Producer Kaisa Näreranta
Director Riitta Rask
Distribution TV Yle Sales
Distribution VOD / SVOD Yle Sales